Mike Jones

I have a 84 olds Delta 88 with a stock 307 my intake is leaking coolent. I tried to do the intake gasket but I can't get the distributor shaft out it seems to be stuck I tried pulling up and turning but that doesn't work ive tried prieing up slightly with pribar and nothing work does anyone have any ideas or any tricks

joe_padavano

Unfortunately, this is a common problem. The most likely cause is that the hexagonal oil pump driveshaft is wedged inside the drive socket in the distributor gear. The oil pump driveshaft has a pressed-on retainer, as seen in this photo.



The purpose of the retainer is only to keep the shaft in the engine during assembly - once the oil pump and distributor are in place, the retainer serves no purpose. At this point, the only option is brute force to work the distributor upward while the retainer slides down the shaft and eventually drops into the oil pan. Your distributor will look like this when you get it out.



The retainer will happily live in the pan for the rest of it's life, but if you are one who loses sleep over things like this, get a magnetic oil pan drain plug.

Compounding issues are the o-ring seal on the distributor, which gets hard and adds to the friction, galvanic corrosion between the aluminum distributor body and cast iron block, and varnish buildup on the distributor body that binds in the hole in the block. I usually have to slowly work the distributor up out of the block using a rubber hammer. The frequent taps are more effective at sliding the retainer off the shaft and getting the distributor out than a continuous prying force. Try to tap at different positions to avoid bending the distributor housing.

olds 307 and 403

You can do the intake gasket without pulling the distributor. An aluminum intake makes the whole job easier. Yes that shaft quite often gets stuck.